A specialist in therapeutic approaches to treat resistant bacterial infections, Mutabilis has been selected to join the European consortium ENABLE — which is aimed at developing antibiotics to tackle infections caused by multi-resistant gram-negative bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance

Back in 2008, the European Commission (EC) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) launched the Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI) to speed up the development of new medicines. Included within this initiative was a programme called ‘New Drugs for Bad Bugs’ (ND4BB), specifically focused on fighting antibiotic resistance.

The ENABLE project is the third for the ND4BB programme and is aimed at combatting infections caused by gram-negative bacteria. Successful applicants of the project will receive financial support as well as access to a research platform.

“We joined ENABLE in July this year. Securing this grant is a clear recognition of the quality of our innovative research,” said Dr Stéphane Huguet, chairman of Mutabilis. “In accessing its platform of services and receiving the advice of specialists in the field, we have a fantastic opportunity to speed up the development of our compounds and secure the company’s future.”

Mutabilis is working on a family of innovative compounds, Dabocillins, that target penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs). These new antibiotics are impervious to beta-lactamase-induced resistances, which gives them an advantage over currently used beta-lactam antibiotics. Through the ENABLE project, three-quarters of the cost that the company incurs (up to Phase I trials) will be reimbursable.

“We welcome the Mutabilis programme into the Innovative Medicines Initiative ENABLE project. Mutabilis brings a series of promising molecules into the ENABLE antibacterial pipeline that will be developed further in a public-private partnership context. We very much look forward to working with the team from Mutabilis,” added Anders Karlén, leader of the managing entity at ENABLE, and professor at Uppsala University.

“We believe that this collaboration in a public-private partnership context is an excellent way to develop novel classes of antibiotic drugs,” stated Neil Pearson, project coordinator at ENABLE and director of medicinal chemistry at GlaxoSmithKline.